Bulldogs press on into D-III final

Friday, March 12, 2010

Photo by Joe Marchilena Bedford's Mike Ahern, left, and Doug Steere celebrate Steere's first goal during the Bulldogs' 4-1 win over Belmont-Gilford in the Division III semifinals Wednesday night.

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Photo by Joe Marchilena Belmont-Gilford's Bryan Hamilton tries to get the puck past Bedford goalie Ben Firman and Matt Mara.

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Photo by Joe Marchilena Bedford's Erik Gosselin and a B-G player go to the ice while trying to control a loose puck.

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Photo by Joe Marchilena Bedford's Tyler Gosselin is checked into the boards by B-G's Mike Lembo.

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Photo by Joe Marchilena Bedford's Pat Spenard celebrates his third-period goal as teammates Mike Ahern (No. 2) and Luke McDonough hurry over to join. The Bulldogs defeated Belmont-Gilford, 4-1, to advance to the Division III championship game.

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Photo by Joe Marchilena Bedford's Mike Ahern, left, and Doug Steere celebrate Steere's first goal during the Bulldogs' 4-1 win over Belmont-Gilford in the Division III semifinals Wednesday night.

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CONCORD – The Bedford High School hockey team faced a familiar scenario heading into Wednesday night’s Division III semifinal game.

The second seed in the division, a team that had been to the semifinals the year before, was taking on a No. 6 seed that no one thought would make the Final Four at the beginning of the year.

A year ago, Bedford was that sixth seed, losing to Kennett 7-1.

In 2010, the Bulldogs showed why they’re the No. 2 seed with a 4-1 win over Belmont-Gilford in a semifinal matchup at Everett Arena in Concord.

Now the Bulldogs will get another shot at the Eagles, who defeated Souhegan 9-0 in the other semifinal, in the championship game at noon on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

“That was the goal all season, to get back to the final four,” Bedford coach Matt Guerard said. “Get the chance to get to the championship. We thought if we could get back to the final four, with our experience, we’d be in great shape.”

Doug Steere had two goals and Mike Ahern added a goal and two assists as Bedford (18-2) won its 11th consecutive game.

Pat Spenard also had a goal while Matt Mara, Luke McDonough, Brian Johnson and Tyler Wise had an assist each.

Ben Firman played well in goal for the Bulldogs, surrendering just one goal that game in the final minute of the first period.

With Bedford up 1-0 on Steere’s first goal and with a face-off to the left of Firman, Belmont-Gilford’s Cam Clairmont flipped a shot that seemed to surprise Firman into the back corner of the goal to tie the game.

The score swung the momentum B-G’s way, and Guerard warned his team of that at intermission.

“They had their emotions really high at the start of the game,” Guerard said. “They played really hard in the offensive end. We just started out slow. I don’t know if it was just some jitters, some nerves.

“When we got that first goal, we thought that’d be good and we had a little bit of breathing room. But then they tied it right at the end. That turned the tide again. They had the momentum going into the second period. That’s what we talked about in the locker room, the next goal gives us all the momentum back. That was the key, to get the next goal.”

It took Bedford a while to get it.

With just under two minutes left in the second period, Steere collected the rebound off a shot by Ahern and got behind B-G goalie Alex Conway to put the puck in the net.

“We got it and from there, the guys just didn’t look back,” Guerard said. “From about five or six minutes left in the second to the end of the game, we played great hockey.”

Ahern stretched the lead to 3-1 just 1:21 into the third period when he beat Conway to his stick side.

B-G had a handful of opportunities to get back within one, but a shot by Evan Karagianis hit off the cross bar, and then, on a breakaway, B-G missed on an open net.

Spenard finished off the win with a power play goal with 9:26 left to play, sending a shot from the point through some traffic for a 4-1 lead.

Now the Bulldogs will go for the program’s first hockey title on Saturday against Kennett, a team they lost to earlier this year, 7-3. Just to be at this point in the team’s second season is reason enough to make Guerard happy.

“For our program to be able to play in a championship game in only their second year is a testament to how hard our kids work,” he said. “We practice at 5:30 in the morning. They’re up going to practice. It says how hard these kids have worked all year.”

Bedford is still practicing, with one more game left on the schedule.